For the week of 5 Lent, the writer was asked to meditate on the theme of the Word of God.

COLLECT OF THE WEEKAlmighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. - Book of Common Prayer, p. 219Recently in the news was the story of the 7 year old girl who survived a plane crash and somehow found her way through the dark in the woods to a home a mile from the crash site. She was not even wearing shoes. She walked in total darkness for much of the time until she somehow found her way to a light. In the midst of tragedy everyone was so happy for her and considered it a miracle that she had survived the crash and was able to find her way to safety. Now, think about the man in the Gospel of John chapter 9 who was blind from birth, and how after a lifetime of darkness, Jesus saw him, healed him, and helped him find the light. Oddly, people seemed to argue more than rejoice for him – even his parents, seemingly, pull back in fear of the authorities – though his healing was a great miracle. Both stories remind me that life can be truly tough, full of darkness – a little girl loses her family in a plane crash, or a man spends years in blindness and then when healed finds a strange, sad distance due to his own family’s fear of what it all means. And yet, in both situations, light is given, light is received, light leads to life.

Jesus said “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. Every word that Jesus spoke brings us light, no matter how dark it may be. We are always going to be blind without His words.